Your Opinion: History and economics

I am a child of the “Great Depression” and like others my age, experienced hardship and “trying to get by.” Historians note that our entrance into World War II converted a mostly rural, agrarian society into a great manufacturing engine. While this war brought full employment and the rise of the middle class, it came at great cost of blood and treasure. After the war there were still years of economic recovery. In short, almost two decades went by before the stage was set for the decades of economic stability to come.

I suspect we have forgotten how close to repeating history we came in 2007-08. The fact that we averted a depression goes in part to the action of the then Congress and the Bush and Obama Administrations. However today’s society is by and large different than that of the 1930s. We are now an impatient lot, demanding instant gratification. We therefore expect that we should be where we were before the 2007-08 crisis. Dream on; history tells us differently.

The fact that at least the USA economy is showing modest recovery indicates that so far we are better off that the FDR years. Perhaps we have learned something.

I also suspect that we can now look forward to a slow but continuing recovery, no matter who wins this election, providing of course that we get a Congress and House with a different mindset other that one of just defeating the current president rather than tending to the nation’s needs.

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